Ibironke G F, Modupe O G
Afr J Med Med Sci. 2015 Sep;44(3):213-20.
This study investigated the mechanism of Ocimum gratissimum induced neurobehavioural alterations in mice. The plant is widely consumed in most parts of the world including Nigeria where it is used as a spice and phytomedicine by alternate medical practitioners.
The animals were divided into three groups of six mice each. Control and Ocimum gratissum treated mice were subjected to the hole-board, light/dark box, elevated plus maze and open field tests. The third group had an intraperitoneal (i.p) injection of the cholinergic receptor antagonist, atropine (3 mg/kg) forty-five minutes prior to oral Ocimum gratissimum administration before the neurobehavioural assay one hour later.
The results showed that Ocimum gratissimum administration significantly reduced the number of head dips in the hole board test (p < 0.01), so also were the frequencies of locomotion (p < 0.001), rearing (p < 0.05) and grooming (p < 0.01) compared with control. In the light/dark board test, the time spent in the light arena and the number of entries were significantly (p < 0.001) reduced compared with the control, while in the elevated plus maize test, the time spent in the closed arm increased significantly (p < 0.01) when compared with control values. The values obtained when the animals were pre-treated with atropine (3 mg/kg) before the administration of Ocimum gratissimum showed no significant difference from those observed without the cholinergic blocker in all the four neurobehavioural tests.
These results ruled out any significant participation of the cholinergic system in Ocimum gratissimum induced neurobehavioural alterations in mice.
本研究调查了丁香罗勒诱导小鼠神经行为改变的机制。这种植物在世界大部分地区都被广泛食用，包括尼日利亚，替代医学从业者将其用作香料和植物药。
将动物分为三组，每组六只小鼠。对照组和经丁香罗勒处理的小鼠接受了洞板试验、明暗箱试验、高架十字迷宫试验和旷场试验。第三组在口服丁香罗勒前45分钟腹腔注射胆碱能受体拮抗剂阿托品（3mg/kg），1小时后进行神经行为测定。
结果显示，与对照组相比，给予丁香罗勒显著减少了洞板试验中的探头次数（p<0.01），运动频率（p<0.001）、竖毛频率（p<0.05）和理毛频率（p<0.01）也显著降低。在明暗箱试验中，与对照组相比，在亮区停留的时间和进入亮区的次数显著减少（p<0.001），而在高架十字迷宫试验中，与对照值相比，在封闭臂停留的时间显著增加（p<0.01）。在给予丁香罗勒之前用阿托品（3mg/kg）预处理动物后获得的值，在所有四项神经行为试验中与未使用胆碱能阻滞剂时观察到的值没有显著差异。
这些结果排除了胆碱能系统在丁香罗勒诱导的小鼠神经行为改变中起任何重要作用。
